Live Free or Die Trying (Massada)

(10) As Pharaoh drew near, the Israelites caught sight of the Egyptians advancing upon them. Greatly frightened, the Israelites cried out to the LORD. (11) And they said to Moses, “Was it for want of graves in Egypt that you brought us to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us, taking us out of Egypt? (12) Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us be, and we will serve the Egyptians, for it is better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness’?” (13) But Moses said to the people, “Have no fear! Stand by, and witness the deliverance which the LORD will work for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today you will never see again. (14) The LORD will battle for you; you hold your peace!”

(1) These are the rules that you shall set before them: (2) When you acquire a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years; in the seventh year he shall go free, without payment. (3) If he came single, he shall leave single; if he had a wife, his wife shall leave with him. (4) If his master gave him a wife, and she has borne him children, the wife and her children shall belong to the master, and he shall leave alone. (5) But if the slave declares, “I love my master, and my wife and children: I do not wish to go free,” (6) his master shall take him before God. He shall be brought to the door or the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall then remain his slave for life.

(2) Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said:... and it says (Exodus 32:16): "And the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tablets," do not read "graven" (harut) but rather "freedom" (herut), for there is no free man except one that involves himself in Torah learning;

(8) ורצע אדניו את אזנו במרצע “ What is the reason that the ear had to be pierced rather than any other limb of the servant’s body? Rabban Jochanan ben Zaccai said: That ear which heard on Mount Sinai, (Exodus 20:13) “Thou shalt not steal” and yet its owner went and stole and was therefore sold as a slave — let it be pierced! Or, in the case of him who sold himself from destitution, having committed no theft, the reason is: That ear which heard on Mount Sinai what I said, (Leviticus 25:55) “For unto Me the children Israel are servants” and yet its owner went and procured for himself another master — let it be pierced! (Mekhilta; Kiddushin 22b).

"There was a story of four hundred boys and girls that were captured for shame[ful purposes]. They figured out why they were being brought. They said, 'If we drown in the sea, we will come to life in the world to come.' The oldest of them expounded, '"The Lord said, 'From Bashan will I bring back, I will bring back from the depths of the sea."' (Psalms 68:23) "From Bashan, I will bring back" - From between the teeth of (bein sheinei) lions; "from the depths of the water I will bring back" - these are the ones that drown at sea.' When the girls heard this, they all jumped and fell into the sea. The boys brought up an a fortiori argument (kal vechomer) regarding themselves and said, 'If those, whose manner is such, [did this]; for us, whose manner is not such, all the more so [should we jump and drown].' [So] they also jumped into the sea. And about them the verse says (Psalms 44:23), 'As it is for You that we are killed all of the day; we are like sheep for the slaughter.'"

"'And he shall not harm himself' –Rabbeinu Tam says that when they are afraid that they will be forced into forbidden idolatry, such as through torture that would be unbearable, he is commanded to harm himself [i.e., commit suicide] as in the story in Gittin concerning the children who were taken captive for prostitution, and who threw themselves into the sea.